The re-election of Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych, a strong leader in the Party of Regions, has been called into question across the globe. Many believe Yanukovych’s victory can be attributed to the jailing of his lead opposition, Yulia Tymoshenko, and that election fraud was a key factor in his re-election.
Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of the Batkivshchina party — also known as the Fatherland party — a group that opposes the ruling party. At the time of her arrest, Tymoshenko was protesting to display her disagreement with the Party of Regions.
“If I were with you now and had an opportunity to act freely. I would without doubt call on you to stage an indefinite civil disobedience action,” Tymoshenko’s lawyer, Serhiy Vlasenko, read from the jailed party leader’s statement to the press
The Fatherland party candidate then declared a hunger strike “to protest against fake elections and an illegitimate parliament.”
Tymoshenko has reason to feel cheated; before her arrest, three leading polling agencies showed she was holding her own in the race for presidency. Surveys revealed incumbent Yanukovych’s to be ahead with 28.1 percent of the vote, but in close second was Tymoshenko’s Fatherland party, projected to win a competitive 25 percent of the proportional vote.
After her arrest, the Fatherland party received a mere 15 percent of the vote, distinguishing Yanukovych and his Party of Regions as the clear winners.
Outside speculation suggests that these results reflect the opinions of the Ukraine people.
“We believe that this is an undisputable victory of the Party of Regions,” Prime Minister Mykola Azarov told a CBS correspondent shortly after polls closed. “Above all, it shows the people’s trust to the course that is being pursued.”
The people of Ukraine think of their government and president as an illegitimate parliament. These negative attitudes may result from a number of events that led the government to be seen as untrustworthy; recently, the government’s passing of the language bill changing the official language of Ukraine to Russian.
“Everyone is worried about the future,” said Vitali Klitschko, world heavyweight boxing champion and leader of a small Ukrainian political party.
Andrei Shkil, a member of Tymoshenko’s political party, agrees with Klitschko.
“The vote is cheating, and the law as a whole is unconstitutional,” said Shkil.
The politics in Ukraine seem to boil down to one thing: you are either with the ruling party, or you are against it.
America, having just concluded its own presidential election, is familiar with similar critisms. Is our election process perceived as fair? Or is it manipulatable, like the Ukraine election allegedly was?
“I believe our election processes are legitimate,” said junior Joseph McManus. “While they are not perfect, I think we have the best system out there.”
Though there are some who see are election process as sound, there are others who differ in opinion.
“Candidates have to tailor their campaigns to what the people want to hear,” said junior Lars Henke. “It is confusing how someone can win the popular vote but still lose the election because of the Electoral College.”
The question that remains is not whether government control is needed, but to what extent government should control the freedoms of a nation?
